Stop No. 17 on the HS boys basketball preseason tour: 33 seasons and 450 wins later the old Warrior is still going strong

The 18-in-18 preseason tour continued with a rush hour trip down Route 22 to Wilson on Wednesday afternoon. It wasn't pretty, but I've seen it worse -- the Route 22 traffic that is, not Wilson.

It always fascinates me that Wilson High School and Easton High are so close together and that Wilson is actually closer to the city of Easton than Easton is. Whatever. I just wish all schools had such easy access to Route 22. And one great thing about the location of Wilson and Easton is that if you're hungry, there's a bunch of fast-food places close by, not that I've been known to hit fast-food places, of course.

Once at Wilson, Phil Pierfy, who figures to be one of the best players in the Colonial League, let me in the building when it looked like I might be on the outside looking in for awhile. Pierfy (No. 42 in photo below) already has one point in the all-area team balloting, not that he needs the help.

Once inside, practice was winding down, but coach Bob Frankenfield was still talking.

The 61-year-old Frankfenfield is one of the true characters in Lehigh Valley basketball. He's a wear your-heart-on-your-sleeve kind of guy.

Jimmy Valvano, in his famous speech, talked about a good day being one in which you laugh and you cry.

Over the years, I've seen Frankenfield cry because of how much he cares about his players, and I've certainly laughed along with him.

He, to me, is Wilson High School. I guess that's because our careers as coach and writer have overlapped for much of the past 33 years.

He is the only Wilson coach I've ever known in this sport, and in talking to him for about 20 minutes on Wednesday I sense a guy who still loves his job and cares about his school more than anyone I know.

"When I don't enjoy something in my life I quit," Frankenfield said. "I am still excited about coming to practice, especially this year because I'm more of a teacher this year than I've ever been. I don't have all the marquee players that I used to have.

"This year is like teaching the kids the alphabet. We're up to letter 'G' right now. But I told them if you listen and pay attention to detail we can succeed. My best teams are not those who won a lot of games. It's the teams that listen the best. Right now I'm tougher on this group than I've been in five or six years. One kid told me when he left tonight that he was happy that he didn't get hollered at tonight, and he said he learned about seven things. I thanked him for that comment."

Frankenfield pointed out a plaque prominently displayed in teh gym lobby. He said he's most proud of the fact that the word "teacher" is on the plaque. He said like to take it with him and put it on his tombstone.

But I told him that it needs to forever stay in Wilson High School so future Warriors students and players will always remember his impact on the school and the many student-athletes he has taught.

"I've had opportunities from others saying that when I retire here I can go and work for them," Frankenfield said. "But I am a Warrior and always will be. It would be very hard for me to leave this place.

"When it's my time to go as the head coach, I will go, but even then I would like to stick around and help out with scouting or something."

Outlook: When last we saw the Warriors, they were stunned by a halfcourt by Dan Reichenbach that gave Salisbury a sudden victory in the District 11 3A quarterfinals. It was a heartbreaking defeat for a Wilson team that had one of the area’s best records but nothing to show for it. Phil Pierfy is the only cornerstone of last year’s team that is returning and everyone expects big things from him. The key will be for other players to emerge to support Pierfy.

Quotable: “We have a very young team that doesn’t have a lot of experience, but these kids bring the lunch pail with them to practice. They work hard and they need to pay attention to detail because we can’t make a couple of mistakes in a row this year and expect to win. We have to demand detail.”

Three months from now: It will be very tough for Wilson to survive a loaded District 11 3A bracket, but Frankenfield will have his team competitive and if Pierfy gets some help, this team should at least make it into the league and district tournament fields.